Promise
by Tsubaki-chan
Summary: One-Shot ; A remake of Hao and Ren's first meeting. HaoRen


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Shaman King. It's respectively owned by Takei Hiroyuki-san.

**Warning**: HaoRen, and GRAMMAR ERRORS!!!!

-

"Yaa, Ren-kun."

The pointy haired shaman snapped up, golden eyes narrowing dangerously at the sight of all-too familiar white cape fluttering in the gentle night breeze. A boy around his age, older, perhaps, grinned in response at him, though Ren knew much better than to believe that innocent facade and the grin of other shaman.

"What do you want, Hao." It was more of a cold and calculated statement, just how he liked it to be. Sharp golden eyes glared into the other boy's warm-looking brown eyes.

"Maa, maa, Ren-kun," the other boy, despite Ren's coldness, smiled at him, not at all affected by the infamous Tao glare that made the little boys scream in terror and run away, "Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." He was so much like Yoh, who became his friend not too long ago, but he was not. Despite the fact that he knew it, Ren felt himself relax slightly at the other boy's Yoh-like attitude, just pure out of reflex. Being around that Asakura Yoh made everybody relax after all.

"Yeah, sure," Ren snorted at him, trying to get his defense back up, "Then why are you here? Aren't you going to eliminate me since I'm one of the most likely candidates to win the Shaman Tournament?" Rather than beating around the bushes, Ren decided to attack the boy straightly, hoping that it'd somehow crumble that annoying grin.

"Actually, Ren-kun," the other boy kept on smiling at him, not at all affected…again. How he wished to literally wipe that annoying smile off his face…!!! "I'm here to…negotiate."

His hands tightened on his weapon, the Hou Rai Ken, golden eyes narrowing sharply. "Negotiate?"

"Yes, Ren-kun, negotiate," with that, the long haired shaman jumped off the roof, landing gracefully on the ground with a small thud and a flutter. Ren wondered briefly if having that stupid white cape helped the boy not to fall in a mass of arms and legs. "I want to make a deal with you," his cape fluttered in the breeze again, and Ren felt his eyes twitch a bit, "Want to hear about it?" Damn, it was that stupid Yoh-like grin again.

Ren hesitated slightly, his jaw muscles loosening a bit from his emotion, and wondering what Hao would possibly want with him. "Alright," he muttered after a pocket of silence, just loud enough to be heard.

The other Shaman's grin seemed to widen a bit more if possible, with a hint of pure girly giddiness, "You are a very powerful shaman, Ren-kun."

Ren felt a vein popping out, "I know _that_!!!!" Was Hao underestimating him? Ooh, how he would absolutely love to strangle that fragile neck of his-!!!

"Maa, maa, Ren-kun," Hao made a calming gesture with his hands, his strange star covered glove glittering in the moon light. Once again, Ren felt himself relax slightly at the Yoh-like gesture, and felt himself stare at those weird earrings tangle in those long hair. Wouldn't his ears hurt if he wears such big earrings like those? "Calm down. I'm just acknowledging your power…and potential."

Ren frowned slightly, normally emotionless eyes showing a hint of confusion, "Potential?"

"Yes, potential," Hao smiled again, hint of triumph showing at Ren's rare display of confusion, "Like I said, you are a very powerful shaman with lots of potential, Ren-kun. But I want to let you know that you are on the wrong side before I talk about our little bargain."

Ren felt himself twitch audibly at the half insult Hao was throwing at him unconsciously.

Either Hao didn't see his twitch, or he wasn't acknowledging it, "By means of wrong side…I mean being on the same side as my petty twin brother."

"Your twin brother?" Ren snapped, fisting his weapon even tighter in his hand, "What do you mean by your twin brother?"

"Ah, you mean you don't know yet," Hao said breezily, as if it wasn't such a big deal. (Damn that manipulative bastard…) "I'm Asakura Hao, and he is Asakura Yoh. See the connection?" the star-loving (?) shaman made little gestures in the air, emphasizing his point, "But don't be mistaken, Ren-kun. I'm much more handsome than he is." Hao flipped a lock of his dark long hair, gesture really feminine despite his masculine manipulative side. And he was real good at it too. Ren unconsciously shuddered at his own thought.

"Asakura Yoh is your twin brother?" Ren couldn't figure out what kind of emotion was boiling within him right now. Shock, maybe? "Why didn't Yoh tell anybody, then?"

"I guess he was going to tell somebody later," Hao grinned, shrugging indifferently, "He is such a predictable creature like that…but what can I say…he's only a human…" then that was when Hao noticed that restrained look of Ren's. Hao made those little calming gestures again, that annoying grin still almost permanently plastered on his face. "Calm down, Ren-kun –geez, how many times did I say that this evening?– you didn't get to hear the rest of the bargain yet."

Ren glared at the other shaman as his answer.

"So," Hao continued giddily, as if nothing happened, "Ren-kun. You want power, don't you? Your dream is to be the best, isn't it?"

Ren twitched, but didn't say anything. Was that supposed to be convincing, or was that supposed to be a taunt? But either way, Ren still wanted to slice a hole into that bastard's brain somehow.

"Come with me," Hao murmured, one hand reaching out to touch Ren's cheek; a thumb lightly smoothed out the tense muscles under his skin, "Come with me, and I'll give you what you want. I _could_ give you what you want. If you join me and go against my pathetic twin brother and his friends…" the touch strengthened, now fingers curling at his cheek, cupping it, "Would you?" Hao leaned down slightly.

Ren froze, breaths heaving as he stared slightly up at the other shaman silently. (He was shorter than Hao, dang it!!!) His golden eyes flickered restlessly with emotions, which were mostly shock and rage; it was like as if he was under pressure. It was suddenly hard to breathe, hard to swallow, and hard to move. His cheeks colored slightly. It was as if he was getting seduced to a brothel…by a man, nonetheless. Then Ren scrunched his nose. Now that was disturbing. Being seduced by Hao to a brothel? Aw, **_hell no_**.

Hao was still looking at him expectantly, brown gaze fixed on him, and his warm hand still cupping his cheek. Ren's grip on his spear strengthened at Hao's expectant look. How dare he assume that he'd fall for his seduction? Ren swung it sharply through the air without warning.

But Hao was one step ahead of him, jumping back swiftly as if Ren's swing was just a little breeze passing by to mess up his perfect hair. (It was dead obvious that Hao was obsessed with how his hair looked like.) That seducing look on his face was gone, but that annoying grin was back again to taunt him.

"I will never work for an Asakura!!" Ren growled nonetheless, his sharp golden eyes glowing eerily in the dark despite the full moon's appearance, "I don't care if it's you or Yoh!!! I'll never let an Asakura win the tournament. _Because **I** will win the tournament_. Got that?"

"As you wish, as you wish," Hao sang giddily, flipping his hair again, "I never expected you to agree, anyway." Then the look was gone, giddy grin back. Ren felt another vein pop out of his head, pulsing steadily with anger.

Before Ren knew what was going on, a warm thing brushed against his lips, leaving him gaping after Hao drew back. "Playing hard-to-get won't get you anywhere, Ren-kun," a predatory look graced Hao's features, his thumb resting against Ren's bottom lip, "Because I will have you some day, even if it wasn't today. I have all the time in the world to seduce you back. I'll make sure that I have you before I eliminate all these pathetic human beings from this world."

And that was a promise.

-

Author's Notes:  
Kyaa Rikku-chan, I don't know if you like this, but… (runs off to hide in the closet.)  
Anyways, a remake of Hao and Ren's first meeting, I guess… (shrug)  
It's really weird, and it came out of nowhere, but I'm satisfied with it, I think…  
Maa, all these shounen-ai fics are polluting my mind… (runs off to clean in out)


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